US-Myanmar survey of opium fields c

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Subject: US-Myanmar survey of opium fields completed   20/3 AFP

US-Myanmar survey of opium fields completed   20/3 AFP



              YANGON -- US and Myanmar drugs officials have completed a
four-day joint survey of
              opium poppy fields to determine the yield of the drug in the
current growing season, the
              official press reported here yesterday. Military intelligence
chief and First Secretary of
              Myanmar's ruling junta Khin Nyunt, on Monday met
representatives of the US Drug
              Enforcement Agency at a research laboratory here, where
samples taken on the survey
              were being analysed, the report added. 

              The official New Light Of Myanmar daily said the survey teams
used military helicopters to
              get to the northern, eastern and southern areas of Shan state
and took samples from 221
              opium plantations. 

              It was the third such joint mission conducted with US
narcotics officials. Previous opium
              crop surveys were carried out in 1993 and 1995. 

              Myanmar is the world's largest producer of opium and its
derivative, heroin. According to
              US estimates, it supplies more than 90 per cent of the opium
from South-east Asia's Golden
              Triangle, an area straddling the borders of Myanmar, Thailand
and Laos. 

              In a separate development, 42 soldiers from the former army of
surrendered narcotics
              kingpin Khun Sa gave themselves up earlier this month in the
Tachilek area of eastern Shan
              state, the New Light said yesterday. The report said 14,606
troops of Khun Sa's Mong Tai
              Army, once dominant in his fiefdom in the eastern Shan state,
had laid down arms since the
              opium warlord surrendered to the military junta, Slorc, or the
State Law and Order
              Restoration Council. 

              The Myanmar government has refused US demands for the
extradition of Khun Sa, once a
              key player in Myanmar's heroin trade. This has been a sore
point in the country's ties with
              the US. -- AFP.